I’ve already mentioned my project to get the city to clean up Independence Park on Mare Island Way. Now, I’ve written a petition to the Mayor, the City Council, and others, and I need your support. I’ve described the park in the petition, and put forth a plan of action.

Please read the petition.

I ask you to help by adding your name to the list. My goal is to get a thousand signers. That ought to make them sit up and listen. Will you help? And will you pass on the petition & ask others to sign as well?

YES!!! DEMOCRACY BEGINS AT HOME. THANKS TO THE SIGNERS!!!
Keep it up. Help us achieve our goal. Talk to others, pass the word on, keep the ball rolling. We need many more signers… thousands of signers. We’re open to all ideas to help the cause. Help us help ourselves.

Come & see us at the Farmer’s Market & Moschetti’s on Saturday morning. Cleaning up Independence Park is a small thing, but getting it done is a huge statement from the people of Vallejo.
DEMOCRACY NOW!

Where we are now…
This morning, Dave got more than a hundred signers at the Farmers Market, Don & I got about 30 at Moschetti’s, and, we have over a hundred e-signers on Change.com – so far…

Great! We won’t stop until we get our park.

Volunteers meeting this week to take it to the next step – nailing it up on the front door of City Hall; getting it into the hands of the Mayor, the City Council, and other responsible officials to whom the petition is addressed.

Carol , great motives and exemplary delivery … butt you must realise that the land parcel in question is designated as parcel ‘J’ – one of many Waterfront parcels , slated for DUMB-velopment … CITY STAFF who really runs this , Enterprise will take exception to your
trespass on their , gravy-train …. Your petition has merrit and is a mirror of just what most locals would like to see happen , …
The Elephant in the room , remains the Council majority , and a City Manager who is POST- HONEY-MOON …. who frankly is Fathering a collection of inept idiots , with the exception of a few …. So yes carry on butt be informed and realistic , there are Developers already chosen for the Waterfront parcels , this is how it rolls in Vallejo ………..

dear rat – thanks, but your comment is too mysterious for me. if there is information i need to know in carrying on with this project i’d appreciate hearing from you. please send it in an email to the editor, who will pass it along to me.

Dear Macroneurotic
Would be nice to know some details of this proposed project , keep in mind a Waterfront is an irreplaceable asset , while I agree this parcel has great potential for public space/recreation , it has remained fallow for decades for a reason ..
For many decades it has been considered ‘developable’ , economic development being the new mantra in town , research of the current zoning designation might be a wise step for you , awhile ago almost the entire Vallejo Waterfront was stealth zoned ‘Waterfront commercial’ this included the huge river park tract up to the 37 bridge ..

The location you refer to has much potential , especially if it advantages it’s LOCATION which is on a Waterfront , way back there was some buzz re; a historic Ship locating there , combined with a parkscape this could be a big draw for our Waterfront , and frankly LOCATION appropriate . The property to the south – the old Brinkmans Marine is currently part of a contaminated soil/ground water investigation project that could impact future land use in the area.

Provided the launch ramp and old Brinkmans site is cleaned up or deemed clean there is great potential for a project that encompases a larger tract than you might be envisioning . Adjacent to the launch ramp was a bait and tackle shop , also a funky little Diner called the Grotto that served a world class Snapper fillet along with a superb Crab louie
(overflowing with crab) for a price most 5 year olds could afford .. This site has some potential for commercial development (remember staff loves economic development) in fact it would be a great location for a Boathouse and a small eatery , when thinking Waterfronts think synergy and remember Waterfronts can only exist in one place ..

If not familiar with the subject , google boat house or traditional boat house , while not big money makers it would be very site appropriate land use , who knows maybe the CAL Maritime Crew team would be interested , they actually have funding .. Another thing to research is BCDC they have regulatory authority over all things up to 80 feet of the shoreline as do the California Coastal Commision both which have robust rules for public acess on a waterfront / shoreline and a myriad of of regulations … good luck
wr .

Independence Park is not slated for development. It will remain open space/recreation space. The land slated for development is largely on the east side of Mare Island Way; except where it turns into Curtola Parkway. The Waterfront Plan was developed with the input of citizens. No one on the City’s payroll benefits financially from this proposal though the entire community will benefit if there is renewed economic development.

dear buffalo & rat – the first thing i did when i started this project, was to stroll down to city hall & research the zoning plans for this park. i came up with the same info, looked at the very same “waterfront project proposal” as buffalo rightly provides, and decided to act. several people told me not to touch it for many of the reasons rat enumerates, but i don’t accept any of it because i know better. inertia is a powerful negative force; perpetuated by gossip it becomes deadly. in pursuing this project i’ve met some mighty fine, helpful & informed people, like buffalo bob, and will risk predicting that independence park will become the green, lovely, people-friendly park it rightfully should be. and it won’t be long. just you wait & see…
i’d be glad to see you sign my petition. thanks.

@ Carol it would be helpful if you posted a link to your petition , and more importantly some ideas of your proposed park-scape .
Any project on that site with need to be reviewed by the Beautification and design review board (BDRB) some sort of visual will be needed for this or at least some specs to move this process forward .. I recommend photographing waterfront parks in other cities that
were well done to use as an example of the site potential , ‘ya know a vision’ “a picture is worth a thousand words” ..

For all you newcomers out there, the subject weed filled parcel addressed by Carol’s petition was supposed to be developed as mitigation for the State Farm building which eliminated many acres of developed park, a bunch of mature redwood trees and closed off a safe path to the downtown from the adjacent neighborhood. That former award winning park which is now a parking lot plus ugly building was part of an agreement with the California State Lands Commission to allow tide lands (which are owned in trust by the people of California) to be developed as a waterfront park. State Lands can be developed for maritime uses, wetlands remediation or waterfront recreation but never as private office buildings or housing except when they are run through the corrupt machine at Vallejo’s City Hall. So the “mitigation” never happened at the weed filled lot and State Farm has moved out leaving the building that got yammed through City Council approvals as a “emergency, one time only good deal” now vacant. City staff should all be fired for moral turpitude or maybe just jailed.

I know there are far worse problems in the world, & in Vallejo, but this makes me cry. I’m a newcomer & ashamed of the leadership of this place. How did they bust those crooks running the city of Bell? Why don’t we do that? Complaining and crying on a website is useless. What action needs to take place to bring our crooked officials to justice? If you can start it, I’m in. Let’s do it.

Dear Carol… That weed filled lot across from you is just the tip of the iceberg. The corruption in Vallejo is very, very deep and runs all the way through the Napa Valley to Sacramento to Washington D.C. The City of Vallejo got very used to having special privileges because of the presence of the US. Navy. Many good staff people at the State and Federal levels have given up because our legislators end run State and Federal laws with special legislation like the garbage passed by our good friend Mike Thompson years back to allow formation of a Redevelopment Area on Mare Island for economic reasons alone to allow massive bulldozing while completely ignoring its National Historic Landmark status. On the Waterfront Plan, the Developer’s special State Lands consultant was, guess who, the former chair of the State Lands Commission and, yes, Don Perata yammed through special legislation to obviate State Lands interests. I don’t think you can ever stop it because so many important and very powerful people have their hands dirty. Bell got hammered because the corrupt were just low lifes and fully expendable to be made an example for the people to believe that corruption could be ferreted out. Plus it was so very blatant. Not gonna happen at the Vallejo level of corruption. Think Jerry Brown is ever going to touch the third rail of public employee safety union politics after he, personally, gaffed that law through allowing union dues to be used for political purposes? Not on your life. Sorry about that. There should be a way to warn decent people that all Vallejo’s great potential is hype and only absentee “investors” (aka slumlords) win big in real estate here.

Bong Hit — no grass in Vallejo ? seems a tad contradictory , I like how you roll on the landscaping selection with the exception of a small grassy area for kids to tumble , and yes concrete picnic tables with tile chess boards and willows planted nearby for shade and treescape . Currently the adjacent land , the launch ramp area and the old Brinkmans Marine property is being studied to profile and engineer contamination/ clean up issues ‘if needed’ the clean up will begin in 2017 . Since the two properties are contiguous and bordered by the public launch ramp it would be prudent to conceive
and plan/design the entire site .. A great plan incorporating waterfront public access and maritime related uses would be easy to permit and has potential to receive grant funding , while being a catalyst and a good fit for any future waterfront development . The site screams BOATHOUSE please check out these links in no certain order .http://www.dolphinclub.org/http://serc.com/http://www.pacificrowingclub.org/index.htmlhttp://www.solanorowingclub.com/http://www.whalingcityrowing.org/racing/http://www.stationmaine.org/
‘Vallejo is a waterfront Community’ with limited access to the water for most of it’s people , recreational boating doe’s not have to be elitist , especially when human power is employed . it is a shame as a waterfront community we don’t even have a public School’s connection to this asset , while we have the premiere Maritime University in the Country . The waterfront is what it is and would be a terrible thing to waste , it is not a place to build residential boxes , rather it is a place where Ships and Boats are and in fact the ONLY place they can come and go .

IMO our site is not a good fit for children due to the high speed traffic along Mare Island way and the long narrow shape of the parcel. My fear would be children playing ball or running around without close supervision might wander out into traffic lanes. An adult setting without playground grass would be more appropriate plus you get the benefit of reduced maintenance costs and reduced water demands with this design philosophy. We should expect the majority users of the park will be 1.) poor and or homeless and 2.) the fishermen.